Politics Initiatives trigger debate on unused former army weapons
Former army firearms should no longer stand around in cellars and cupboards. In June, the National Council will discuss the obligation to confiscate weapons that are no longer needed for shooting sports. What is supposed to help prevent homicides is arousing opposition.
30.05.2026, 09:31
SDA
The reason for this is a motion by National Councillor Priska Seiler Graf (SP/ZH). She is calling for a legal obligation to confiscate unused, privatized army firearms. Specifically, weapons should have to be confiscated if the owners have not used them for shooting sports for ten years.
Responsibility of the state
Over thirty members of the left-wing parliamentary groups support the demand. The Federal Council also supports the request. The motion is based on domestic homicides committed with firearms. Women are often the victims.
Especially when older men kill their partners and then kill themselves, these weapons represent a risk factor, explains Seiler Graf. The state remains responsible, even if the weapon was privatized decades ago.
The Swiss Shooting Sport Association (SSV) warns: "The motion not only endangers the sport of shooting, but also central values of our society," President Luca Filippini was quoted as saying in a statement posted online. The personal army weapon is part of the militia tradition and an expression of trust and responsibility. Such sweeping restrictions affect militia soldiers and responsible citizens.
"Blanket restriction"
Pro Tell, the association for a liberal gun law, speaks of an automatic encroachment on private property, "without proportionality and based on an inadequate database". This would be at the expense of fundamental rights.
The National Council has a second demand regarding weapons: If a domestic homicide is committed with a firearm, information on this weapon should be recorded uniformly. This is the aim of a motion by National Councillor Marionna Schlatter (Greens/ZH), with which the Federal Council also agrees.
Such information is not systematically collected, criticizes Schlatter. It is therefore often not known whether a weapon used was legal or illegal, where it came from, whether it was subject to registration and whether the suspect was known to the authorities. More data would enable risk analysis and targeted prevention.
The Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) conducted a survey on gun ownership with Pro Tell and published it in 2023. The study estimates that there are 2.3 million privately owned firearms in Switzerland.
According to the survey, most of these weapons come from army stocks. According to the survey, the main reasons for buying personal weapons or acquiring former army weapons are a fascination with weapons and shooting sports. "Typical gun owners" are therefore 31- to 65-year-old men, mostly members of shooting clubs.
Fewer army weapons in private ownership
According to a study conducted in 2025 on behalf of the Gender Equality Office, fewer and fewer army weapons remain with members of the armed forces after their compulsory service. Whereas nine out of ten men once kept their personal weapons, just under one in eight did so in 2018. Firearms can be kept outside the home during compulsory service.
While perpetrators of homicides in the criminal milieu use firearms less frequently, the number of domestic homicides committed with such weapons has only fallen slightly according to this study. These crimes are relatively often committed by older Swiss people, who are more likely to have weapons in their homes than younger people.
According to the study, there is often a lack of information on the origin of the weapons used in homicides. As far as can be seen, they were often former army or service weapons, which the perpetrators usually owned legally. "Firearms kept at home are a particular risk for homicides against women," says the study.
On the agenda in June
There is no national weapons register in Switzerland, but rather cantonal registers. According to Swiss Crime Prevention, weapons that are no longer needed can be handed in to the police.
The National Council has both motions on the agenda for the summer session. If it agrees, the Council of States must also decide before the Federal Council can implement them.
